Labour Fightback

The Saskatoon Co-op strike by members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1400 is now in its fifth month. After talks between the company and the union broke down on Feb. 11, UFCW Local 1400 called for binding arbitration to resolve the strike. As of this writing, Saskatoon Co-op has not responded to the offer.

A pair of resolutions spearheaded by Labour Fightback have won support from union locals and labour organizations, signalling widespread support among workers for a more militant approach to fighting the attacks of the bosses and their lackeys in government. One resolution calls for the nationalization of General Motors (GM) under democratic workers’ control. The other calls on workers to fight against “back-to-work” and “essential services” legislation that denies them their democratic right to strike.

Last month, workers of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 113 went to the ballot box for the fourth time in the last three years. These union members make up the main workforce of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), with 10,500 workers forming the lifeblood of the city’s public transit system and collectively moving millions of passengers every day. For these workers, this recent election followed a difficult period in which the accountability and willingness to fight of its previous leaders were repeatedly put into question. On this occasion, however, the desire of the rank and file for change was fulfilled as establishment candidate Frank Grimaldi was defeated by grassroots challenger Carlos Santos with 53 per cent of the vote. This change in leadership represents a significant development inside one of the most powerful union locals in the province, and should be seen as a step forward in the fight against the anti-worker Doug Ford regime.

Each and every day, the capitalist press provides Canadians with a steady dose of half-truths, inconsequential fluff pieces, and open lies. We read that austerity is good for workers, refugees are plotting to destroy ‘Western civilization’, and that capitalism, whatever its faults, is the best economic system imaginable. As the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky once said, “The yellow press lies as a matter of course, without hesitating or looking back. Newspapers like The Times or Le Temps speak the truth on all unimportant and inconsequential occasions, so that they can deceive the public with all the requisite authority when necessary.”